Born in
Philadelphia, Goodis had two younger brothers, but one died of meningitis at the age of three. After high school in Philadelphia, Goodis studied at
Indiana University for a year before transferring to
Temple University, where he graduated in 1938 with a
journalism degree.
While working at an advertising agency, he started writing his first novel,
Retreat from Oblivion. After it was published by Dutton in 1939, Goodis moved to
New York City, where he wrote under several pseudonyms for pulp magazines, including
Battle Birds,
Daredevil Aces,
Dime Mystery,
Horror Stories,
Terror Tales and
Western Tales, sometimes churning out 10,000 words a day. Over a five-and-a-half year period, according to some sources, he produced five million words for the pulp magazines, while also scripting for such radio adventure serials as
Hop Harrigan,
House of Mystery and
Superman. Novels Goodis wrote during the early 1940s were rejected by publishers, but in 1942, he spent some time in Hollywood as one of the screenwriters on Universal's
Destination Unknown.
His big break came in 1946 when his novel
Dark Passage was serialized in
The Saturday Evening Post, published by Julian Messner and filmed for
Warner Brothers with
Humphrey Bogart and
Lauren Bacall heading the cast.
Delmer Daves directed what is now regarded as a classic
film noir, and a first edition of the 1946 hardcover is valued at more than $800.
Arriving in Hollywood, Goodis signed a six‑year contract with Warners where he scripted
The Unfaithful (a remake of Somerset Maugham's
The Letter). Some of his scripts were never produced, including
Of Missing Persons and an adaptation of
Raymond Chandler's The Lady in the Lake.
In 1950, Goodis returned to Philadelphia where he lived with his parents and his schizophrenic brother Herbert. At night, he prowled the underside of Philadelphia, hanging out in nightclubs and seedy bars, a milieu he depicted in his fiction.
Cassidy's Girl (1951) sold over a million copies, and he continued to write for paperback publishers, notably Gold Medal. There was a renewed interest in his novels when
François Truffaut filmed
Down There (1956) as the acclaimed
Shoot the Piano Player (1960).
Goodis died in 1967 of cirrhosis of the liver. After his death, his work went out of print in the United States, but he remained a popular favourite in France. In 1987, Black Lizard began to reissue Goodis titles. In 2007,
Hard Case Crime published a new edition of
The Wounded and the Slain for the first time in more than 50 years. Also in 2007
Street of No Return and
Nightfall were re-published by Millipede Press.
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